


Come On, Baby, Do You Do More Than Dance?

by NeoVenus22



Category: Community
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-03
Updated: 2011-04-03
Packaged: 2017-10-17 12:51:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/177037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeoVenus22/pseuds/NeoVenus22
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>Annie's figured out the best way to deal with Jeff is to butter him up and then use feminine wiles.  If that fails, threaten.  He's usually so impressed that she's learned to play his game that he caves.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Come On, Baby, Do You Do More Than Dance?

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers: 1x18, 'Modern Warfare'

Jeff hustles out of Spanish class, not looking at anyone, especially not Britta, and not bothering to respond to Senor Chang's parting taunts. Annie has to double her pace to catch up to him. "Hey can we talk?" she says in one breath, partly from her hustle and partly out of nervousness.

Jeff casts her a sidelong glance that definitely seems kind of guilty. Or maybe she's just reading too much into it. "Sure."

"It was really nice, what you did for Shirley," she starts. She's figured out the best way to deal with Jeff is to butter him up and then use feminine wiles. If that fails, threaten. He's usually so impressed that she's learned to play his game that he caves.

"Well, when I realized there was no way to pad my schedule to graduate early, I figured I might as well rub my humanity in Britta's face."

"That's not the only thing you rubbed in her face," she answers without missing a beat. The comment is Jeff's influence, definitely. Or Pierce's. Either way, she realizes what she's said, and somewhat belatedly, the sort of mental images that come with it. "Ew."

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

"Ew means ew. Or gross, disgusting, vomit-inducing…"

"I get the point, Annie. And I was talking about that other thing you said."

Annie fiddles with her backpack strap, even if this is more or less what she wanted to talk to him about. "I know you slept with Britta," she finally blurts out. It's like ripping off a band-aid.

"Did Abed put you up to this?" says Jeff, to his credit, not missing a beat.

"No, I saw Britta in the bathroom before class."

"And she said we slept together? Oh, I didn't think she'd sink so low…"

For a moment, Annie wonders where he's going to go with this. Get mad at Britta for giving up the secret? Get mad at Britta for making it all up?

The truth was, all that happened in the bathroom was that Annie asked how the rest of the tournament had gone after she'd left. Britta had stopped futzing with her eyeliner for a second, throwing Annie a sorrowful look in the mirror for all of half a second before refusing to meet her eyes. She'd answered, 'Nothing,' in an unnatural, high-pitched voice. Annie had pieced together the rest.

"It didn't mean anything," Jeff says.

Annie may not be as worldly and experienced as just about anyone else in the group, but she's well aware that two people can have completely meaningless sex. She thinks it's a little gross, but then she's a romantic. The point is, she doesn't believe that two people with as much history and tension as Jeff and Britta could have sex and not have it mean anything.

Still, she knows there's something significant about Jeff pressing this point.

"It was just the game, you know. And anyway, she seduced me to catch me off guard and take my gun."

Annie can buy that easily enough. But still… "You wanted to. You have wanted to."

Jeff sighs like it pains him, halting abruptly in the hallway and turning to look at her dead-on for the first time since this conversation started. She's struck by the height difference between them. It's irrelevant and quite beside the point, but it's hard not to notice. It barely scratches the surface of all the differences between them. "Annie, I'm gonna do something I never do."

"Be honest?" she says flatly.

Jeff doesn't miss a beat. "Actually, yes. Annie, I'm a guy. Guys want to sleep with anyone they think they can sleep with, and a lot of the ones they can't. If the opportunity presents itself…"

"Does Britta know that?"

"It's Britta. It's typical, objectionable male behavior. If it rankles her, I'm sure she knows all about it." Jeff's face twists to accommodate one of his wry smirks. Maybe the sex meant nothing, but there's still enough of something there that he gets a moderate amount of pleasure out of insulting or mocking Britta, even if she's nowhere to appreciate it. Annie wonders if this should worry her.

"Anyway. You guys wanted us to 'get it over with.'" Jeff doesn't meet her eyes when he says this, probably because he already knows what Annie's going to say next.

"Pierce suggested that, not me."

"Will saying I'm sorry help?"

Annie knows how this is supposed to go. She's supposed to say he doesn't have to apologize for who he sleeps with. She has no claim on Jeff Winger and he's made no promises to her. But if she really subscribed to that, would she be having this conversation at all?

"Only if you really mean it," she says.

"Then I'm sorry."

Someone knocks into Annie's backpack from behind, and Jeff takes her arm, steering her in closer to the wall, away from the offender. He steps in close so he can talk. "Look, it wasn't exactly my most brilliant moment. I didn't plan for it, it just kind of happened. And, um…" Jeff squints at his shoes, as though he isn't sure how to phrase it. Or maybe he doesn't want to say it at all. "Now that it's happened, it probably won't happen again."

"Oh," she says. And when she gives it a moment to settle in her head, "Oh."

Jeff doesn't say anything, and she realizes the conversational ball has rolled in her direction. She should probably do more with it than just say 'oh,' so she goes for the most easily accessible question in her churning brain. "Are you sure?"

"No. But for the first time in awhile, I'm not really all that sure of anything." Jeff considers this a moment. "Except I'm pretty sure that came from one of Abed's movies."

Annie honestly doesn't know what to say to this. She's suddenly hyper-aware of Jeff's hand, still on her arm, just above her elbow. He's been too preoccupied to move it, but when she says nothing, he notices it at last and jerks it away. It's funny: she's the one that feels like she's on fire, but he's the one acting as though he's been burned.

Jeff gestures lamely over his shoulder. "I should get to--"

"Class," she agrees, surprising even herself with how unnatural and high-pitched she sounds. "Right, me too."

"So… I'll see you later, then."

Annie puts on the widest, brightest smile that she has. "Yup! Later."

Jeff's mouth opens a little bit, and she thinks he might say something else, but he just shakes his head a fraction and walks off. She wonders how it's possible to feel even more confused and snarled up inside now, as opposed to when she just had a thousand unanswerable questions ricocheting around her mind. Well, she still has a thousand unanswerable questions. They're just different questions.

Annie looks at her watch and realizes she has about five minutes to get across campus for her lit class. She takes a deep breath and steels herself mentally. It's the end of the semester, she has classes, papers, and exams, and since she didn't win priority registration (for a moment, for a fleeting second, she wonders why Jeff didn't offer it to her - but really, why would he? And what would she even do with it?), she has to pass her classes now to qualify for the classes she wants to take next semester. She has to get her head on straight.

The professor is just settling into his chair by the time Annie has her supplies laid out on the desk. She tries to focus on that, and not the other thing. She's already spent way too much time and mental energy on Jeff Winger today. There are only so many times a person can allow their life to get off track; even fewer times they can do it over a boy.

Annie turns on her voice recorder. There's so much she needs to prepare for: classes, finals, the summer, the Jeff thing. It's a lot to get through. It's a challenge.

Fortunately, Annie likes a challenge.


End file.
